1. The effects of chebulinic acid, which has been shown to elicit blood pressure lowering effect in rats, on aortic vascular contraction as well as cardiac contraction were studied in rats. 2. Chebulinic acid had no effect on KCI-induced aortic contraction, but irreversibly inhibited the contractile responses to phenylephrine in an apparently non-competitive manner. Chebulinic acid also inhibited contractile responses of rat aorta to 5-hydroxytryptamine and angiot ensin It. 3. Chebulinic acid inhibited the binding of pH]-prazosin to dog aortic microsomal membranes in a concentration-depen-dent manner with an IC50 value of 0.3dmmol/L Results of saturation binding experiments suggest a mixed mode of inhibition by chebulinic acid (i.e. a decrease in both the maximal number of binding sites and the affinity for prazosin). 4. Chebulinic acid concentration-dependently and reversihly inhibited the maximal left ventricuiar pressure of rat heart in a Langendorff preparation with 50% inhibition occurring at a concentration of 0.3nmol/L. 5. We conclude that chebulinic acid exerts non-specific inhibitory actions in vascular preparations. Its inhibitory effect on cardiac contraction was reversible and three orders of magnitude more potent than that on vascular contraction. We suggest that the hypotensive effect of chehulinic acid is probably mediated via the decrease in cardiac output resulting from reduced left ventricular contraction.

In normal (5mM KCI) HEPES buffer solution, BHT-920 and rauwloscine did not produce any contractile responses in dog mesenteric artery strips. However, when the preparation was bathed in 20mM KC1 HEPES buffer solution, BHT-920 and rauwloscine evoked significant contractile responses. These effects were markedly inhibited by parazosin which caused a parallel shift to the right of the concentration-response curve to BHT-920. In 45Ca uptake experiments carried out in the 20mM KC1 HEPES buffer solution BHT-920 and rauwolscine significantly increased 45Ca influxes which were reduced by prazosin. These results suggest that postsynaptic al-adrenoceptors in dog mesenteric artery mediate the contractile responses and the 45Ca influxes induced by BHT-920 and rauwloscine after partial depolarization by 20mM KC1.

We studied the Ca2+ movement induced by activation of α1A-, α1B- and α1D-adrenoceptor subtypes in transfected HEK-293 cells with the fura- probe. All these α1-AR subtypes induced both Ca2+ release and Ca2+ entry. The effect on Ca2+ release in α1b transfected HEK-293 cells was bigger than that in α1a and α1b transfected HEK-293 cells, and the effects on Ca2+ entry were the same in ala, alb and aid transfected HEK-293 cells. The Ca2+ entry was inhibited by 1mM NiSO4, but not by nifedipine. Cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) produced a biphasic Ca2+ signal response in Ca2+ medium, and only induced a transient response in Ca2+-free medium. After depletion of CPA-sensitive Ca2+ pool by 10uM CPA in Ca2+-free medium, 10uM adrenaline (Adr) still transiently increased [Ca2+]i in three different α1-adrenoceptor subtype transfected HEK-293 cells. However, after depletion of drenaline-sensitive Ca2+ pool by 10uM Adr, CPA transiently elevated [Ca2+], only in ala and aid transfected HEK-293 cells, not in a,, transfected HEK-293 cells. U73122, a phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitor, inhibited both Ca2+ release and Ca2+ entry induced by activation of α1B-AR,α1B and α1D subtypes in transfected HEK-293 cells. These results suggest that HEK-293 cell line contains two functionally separate intracellular Ca2+ pools, CPA-sensitive and Adr-sensitive pools. Activation of a,,-AR stimulates Ca2+ release from both CPA-sensitive and Adr-sensitive Ca2+ pools. α1A and α1D subtypes induce Ca2+release only from Adr-sensitive Ca2+ pool.

We examined the endothelium-dependent relaxation response to acetylcholine (Ach) in treptozotocin-induced diabetic rat aorta at the stages of 2- and 6-wks' duration in vitro, and compared with another two groups which were treated with dietary supplement of 0.1% Aminoquanidine (AG) and 0.5% Erigeron breviscapus(EB) from l-week of diabetes induction. At the stage of 2-wks' duration of diabetes, relaxation responses to lower concentrations of Ach in 0.3uM phenylepherineprecontracted aortas were diminished significantly (Pc0.05) compared with agematched control, but the maximal relaxation of Ach remained unchanged. At the stage of 6-wks' duration, diabetes caused an approximately 60% (P<0.001) deficit in maximum relaxation, and this was significantly (P<0.001) prevented in AG and EB treated groups. There was an approximately 40% enhancement in the maximum contractile response to phenylepherine with diabetes (P<0.5), which was unaffected significantly by AG and EB treatments. The data suggest that the defective endothelium-dependent relaxation in diabetic rat aorta occurred as early as 2-wks' duration of diabetes, and the treatments of AG and EB could protect vascular endothelium although the deficits in vascular smooth muscle contractile responses were not protected.

Recent growing evidence suggests that chloride (Cl-) channels are critical to the cell cycle. In cultured rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), we have previously found that Cl- channel blockers inhibit endothelin-1 (ET-1)-induced cell proliferation. The present study was designed to further identify the specific Cl- channels responsible for VSMC proliferation. Due to the lack of a specific blocker or opener of any known Cl- channels, we used the antisense strategy to investigate the potential role of ClC-3, a member of the voltage-gated Cl- channel gene family, in cell proliferation of cultured rat aortic VSMCs. With [3H]-thymidine incorporation and immunoblots, we found that ET-1-induced cell proliferation was parallel to a significant increase in the endogenous expression of ClC-3 protein. Transient transfection of rat aortic VSMCs with antisense oligonucleotide specific to ClC-3 caused an inhibition in ET-1-induced expression of ClC-3 protein and cell proliferation of VSMCs in the same concentration- and time-dependent pattern, whereas sense and missense oligonucleotides resulted in no effects on ClC-3 protein xpression and cell proliferation. These results strongly suggest that ClC-3 may be the Cl-channel involved in VSMC proliferation and thus provide compelling molecular evidence linking a specific Cl- channel to cell proliferation. The full text of this article is available at http://www.circresaha.org. (Circ Res. 2002; 91: e28-e32.)